2008-08-05 - We have an engine mount. (0.0 Hrs).

I needed an engine mount, and my welding skills have not developed as I had hoped. The guy at Conversion Concepts who used to build engine mounts for rotary engines ended-up taking money from a number of guys without delivering the goods. Several people mentioned Ed Klepeis at Tech Welding as a possible source for a rotary engine mount, so I contacted him back in March of 2007 to see if he was going to build engine mounts for the RV-7A. He was looking in to it, but he was pretty booked at the time. No big deal, I had plenty of things to work on before I needed to start on the engine.

In October of 2007, Ed said he was definitely going to do this, and he could have me a mount by the first of the year, 2008. Unfortunately, he had to have surgery around Christmas, so this was going to be pushed out a little. I started pushing him a few months ago, so he agreed to build me a mount. The price was $1300, plus $85 if I wanted sand blasting and primer. Half up front, with a lead time of 6-8 weeks. Woo Hoo, we had a commitment.

The mount was finished last week, and it showed-up on my door step this afternoon. All I can say is the wait was worth it. This is an absolute beautiful piece of work. The mount included the aluminum mounting plate and rubber mounts between the aluminum plate and the engine mount frame. Ed even had the inside of the aluminum mounting plate milled down to save some extra weight. I am very impressed with his work.

This is where my wife left the box after it was delivered.

Alright, there's an engine mount inside. The FedEx tracking site said 40 lbs, but it's not even close to that heavy. I'll weight the mount when I get a chance.

Front view.

Rear view.

Right side.

Rubber mounts for the mounting plate, are included.

Ok, got it out to the factory floor. Here, you can see where Ed had extra metal milled out on the bottom of the mounting plate, to save a little weight. A little extra attention to detail that I had not expected, but greatly appreciate.

Here's the front gear mount. Notice that the fillets are curved on the unwelded side. This gives us a little more strength. Again, not something that all welders would take the trouble to do, but just another example of the kind of work that Ed does.

The joints that attach the mounting plate to the framework--looks good.

Another view of the rubber mounts. I must like this part.

Looking down on the nose gear mount.

One of the firewall mounts.

I guess you can tell that I am very pleased with the engine mount. No way was I going to be able to duplicate this kind of work.